With the advances of technology, the mobile communication system has evolved to the level of providing various data communication services beyond early voice-oriented services. Particularly with the introduction of enhanced terminals, such as a smartphone, and an enhanced data rate network, users are capable of enjoying various data services anytime anywhere.
The enhanced terminal, such as a smartphone, supports various applications such as a mail client, a Social Network Service (SNS) client, and an Instant Messaging (IM) client. These applications are capable of connecting to a network to synchronize application data with a network entity (server). In order to achieve the synchronization of application data, the applications perform data synchronization at respective intervals configured according to the user's preference. Although it is typical to set the synchronization interval to 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hour, or the like, the synchronization interval for each application maybe set freely according to the user's intention. If the user wants to receive the data updated in real time, it is preferred to set the synchronization interval to a small value. Otherwise, if the user wants to conserve the communication resource and battery power, it may be preferred to set the synchronization interval to a longer interval.
The enhanced terminal transmits an updated data request message to the network entity (server) at an interval configured for the corresponding application. In response to the updated data request message, the server transmits the requested data to the enhanced terminal.
If the enhanced terminal is not in the state requiring communication, it is preferred to operate in an idle mode to reduce power consumption. Whenever the individual applications perform an update, the terminal has to transition from the idle mode to an active mode. Accordingly, if a plurality of applications are running with their respective synchronization intervals, the transition between the idle mode and the active mode may occur frequently. Likewise, if an application is running at least two repetitive operations configured, with two different synchronization intervals, this also causes the same problems as the at least two applications running with different synchronization intervals.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a synchronization process in a technology according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, accounts, A, B, and C are registered with the mail client. Each account is configured to perform synchronization operation at an interval of 15 minutes. The account A starts the synchronization operation at time 3600 seconds and ends the synchronization operation at time 3605 seconds. An alarm is registered to start the synchronization operation for the account A after 15 minutes since the time of the end of synchronization. Afterward, the synchronization operation for account A restarts at time 4505 seconds. Similar operations are performed for accounts B and C.
After 8 seconds since the first synchronization operation for account A ends, the synchronization operation for account B restarts. In the entire synchronization process for one application, i.e. the mail client, the idle times between two consecutive synchronization operations are 8 seconds, 5 seconds, 14 minutes 35 seconds, 10 seconds, and 14 minutes and 33 seconds.
According to the conventional technology as described above, when a plurality of accounts are registered with the mail client and the accounts are configured with different synchronization intervals, the accounts have to perform synchronization at different times. Accordingly, the application (mail client) running on the terminal has to perform the synchronization operations of the plural accounts irregularly and non-periodically. In this case, the terminal has to transition between the idle mode and active mode for every synchronization operation. As the number of mode transition times increases, this increases the signaling overhead and power consumption. For example, in the 3rd Generation (3G) Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, 35 controls messages are exchanged for Preservation mode transition and Radio Access Bearer (RAB) reconfiguration.
Accordingly, a method for synchronizing applications efficiently is desired.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.